Two decades of tripurainfo.com’s annual Open Mega Quiz , a saga of grand success in Tripura’s march forward
Sekhar Datta
October 28, 2025
The advent of the twenty first century in the year 2000 AD had ushered in revolutionary changes in the crucial spheres of information and communication technology as manifested in nearly universal reach of cable-enabled Television programmes,Internet, Mobile, Social Media such as ‘Facebook’ and its concomitants, Whatsapp, Instagram , Google , Youtube, Web media etc . This brought virtually the entire globe into households across the world, turning the Mother Earth into a global village as envisaged by visionaries in the foregoing decades. In our homeland, India the years 2000 and 2001 were the time of ‘Tehelka’ that had rippling effect across the nation with its live coverage of epochal events .
With massive changes and benefits brought by new technology all around, Tripura could not lag behind and it was the imagination , enterprise and initiative of senior journalist and author Jayanta Debnath that finally led to the launching of the state’s very first news based web media under the banner of Tripurainfo.com. With a few senior professional colleagues lending their support , Tripurainfo.com turned out to be an instant hit with news readers and followers of the new media from the date of its launching , May 26 2001.
However, to begin with , the venture was hamstrung by resource crunch and lack of acceptability to those who ran the state then. It took a little bit of effort to convince the then ruling authority of the wide range and shining future of the Tripurainfo.com as the Internet driven new media and finally requisite amendments were made in policies to pave the way for government support to Tripurainfo.com in the form of official advertisements and the initial struggle for existence eased to a great extent. There was also willing support from skilled and professional people of Tripura settled in other parts of India and abroad with the inevitable result that made Tripurainfo.com the most widely accessed and popular news website based in the state , disseminating fast and authentic news and views on this state. It continues to be so now and shall remain so in future also.
Came the year 2006 when Tripurainfo.com had completed five years of existence and the authority running it felt the need for a celebration and the idea of organizing the Mega Quiz programme, now a regular annual event, took wings . It was in the month of May 2006 that the very first Open Mega Quiz came off in Agartala Town Hall , evoking overwhelming response from the quiz enthusiasts, students , guardians and intellectual section of the populace. The then chief minister Manik Sarkar had unveiled the opening programme and urged upon the organizers-that is, the Tripurainfo.com authority-to make the Open Mega Quiz an annual event. This has been done with a grand success and by now the people of the state including quiz enthusiasts, students, guardians and intellectual section of people look forward to participating in or witnessing the annual Quiz Programme. The idea of organizing an annual Mega Quiz programme had been mooted , keeping in mind the spirit of the time : speed, accuracy and quick delivery in the age of super technology and rapid scientific development.
Even though in the initial years the Mega Quiz programme had to be organised annually in Agartala Town Hall , the then chief minister Manik Sarkar had once announced at the inauguration of the programme once that very soon the Quiz could be held in a larger canvass as the Rabindra Shata Varshiki Bhawan was being reconstructed . This came true in a short time and since then the annual Open Mega Quiz is being held annually in the spacious Hall no-1 of Rabindra Shata Varshiki Bhawan. It was only once in the Covid Pandemic year of 2021 that the programme had to be organised in the Nazrul Kala Kshetra auditorium but now every year Hall no-1 of the Rabindra Shata Varshiki Bhawan is the sure destination of Quiz enthusiasts and students of the state . What is more important and a matter of pride for the state is that the Annual Open Mega Quiz organised by the Tripurainfo.com is all set to complete two decades of uninterrupted run as the only such quiz programme in the entire country , attended by the highest number of participants , enthusiasts , intellectuals and common viewers. The day of 9th November this year is the red letter day when the Open Annual Mega Quiz is all set to round off two full decades with resounding success. What the two eventful decades of Tripurainfo’s Open Mega Quiz has unmistakably proved-if any proof were ever required-is that our Tripura bristles with talents that just need care and nurturing for blossoming at the national and international level. Very ,very few questions in the annual quiz programme go unanswered either by the participants or by members of the audience.
What is important to mention in this context is that Tripurainfo.com authority alone can not organise this expensive and highly attended programme on their own . From the very beginning the state government , autonomous bodies, government undertakings , societies, corporations and departments of the government have extended their assistance to the programme every year. There has never been an exception to this rule any time except in the period between 2018 and 2021 but since then there has never been any problem and the honourable chief minister of the state Professor Dr Manik Saha has always adorned the programme as inaugurator and chief guest . Most of the senior officials of the state government and central corporations like the ONGC, NEEPCO etc also make a point of sponsoring the quiz programme and attending it on the all-important day as do exalted people from the professional and political spectrum. The response this year to the programme slated to come off on November 9 in the Hall no-1 of Rabindra Shata Varshiki Bhawan is already overwhelming and it is expected that there will be a huge turn-out on the occasion to enjoy an enervating daylong exchange of information and knowledge on a delightful, languid semi-wintry day. This annual festival of knowledge and information is just round the corner , evoking hopes and aspirations of a huge number of people, specially the younger generation.
(Tripurainfo)
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